The Service Cougars scored 28 unanswered points and used sensational second-half defense to come from behind to defeat the Chugiak Mustangs 28-13 Friday night in the fifth-place game of the Anchorage School District’s season-ending football playoffs.
Chugiak kicker Josh Rolston tied his three-week-old state record by booting a 56-yard field to help the Mustangs to an early lead, but the Cougars roared back with a pass rush that racked up 14 sacks, nine of them in the second half.
“I’m proud of my team for coming back in the second half to pull out the win,” said Service wide receiver Ethan Bekkala. “It’s a lot better to win on your home field in the last game than to go out with a loss.”
The season ends Saturday afternoon when East hosts Bartlett at 2 p.m. in the ASD championship game.
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After a week off, the Cougars were a little rusty in the opening half on a frigid Friday night under the lights.
The Mustangs appeared to have all the momentum and a 13-point lead heading into halftime when the Service defense came up with a sack that resulted in a forced fumble.
Service quarterback Damian Johnson used the spark to march the Cougars to a touchdown in five plays inside the final minute of the half. He hit Bekkala in the back-left corner of the end zone for a 15-yard strike to cut Chugiak’s lead to 13-7 at the intermission.
“It was a great throw by Damian. He put it right where it needed to be and I just caught it,” said Bekkala, who was able to get both feet inbounds before his momentum carried him out of the end zone.
It was the first and shortest of Johnson’s four touchdowns and the first of Bekkala’s two touchdown catches.
Service’s offense exploded for 21 points in the third quarter, all of them on plays longer than 50 yards, including a 63-yard catch and run from Johnson to Bekkala.
Johnson left the game with an injury early in the fourth quarter, leaving it to the Service defense to secure the double-digit victory.
The defense dominated the second half with a ferocious and unrelenting pass rush that piled up nine sacks. It seemed like every time Chugiak quarterback Harvey Pullen came up from under center after receiving the snap, he was met by a swarm of green and white.
Cougars linebacker Sebastian O’Farrell was in on nearly every sack. He came crashing off the edge and up the middle of the Mustangs' overwhelmed offensive line all night long, but especially in the second half.
“I’ve been injured all season long and this was the first game that I’ve been 100 percent and I just wanted to show that I could fight and just come back,” said O’Farrell. “I just wanted to go out there and do the best I know I could do.”
Two bright spots for Chugiak were the performances of seniors Rolston and Logan Mathieu, who scored all of their team’s points.
Rolston booted a pair of long field goals and Mathieu scored on an 82-yard reception, accelerating down the right sideline after catching a short pass over the middle of the field.
Rolston’s first field goal was a 56-yarder that easily would’ve been good from 60. The kick tied the state record Rolston set against East three weeks ago.
“My coach was saying ‘back it up one more yard’ to break the record again,” he said.
The strong-legged kicker has several Division I college programs vying for his services as a preferred walk-on, including Tennessee and Central Michigan.
He said he’s leaning toward Central Michigan. “I have family there and I’ve been there before,” he said.
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